Haven't posted for a couple of weeks. Lots of work pressure on time getting ready for a few days away at the World Senior Games.
Previous week before games, mostly easy, but with a bit of a tester one the Wednesday one week before race (mile on road in 6:06 short rest and 400m in about 87), and a last session of 8x200m in about 42-41 sec with 200m jog on the Saturday.
Flew out from Eugene on Tuesday for Wednesday morning race. Found St. George, Utah, is very different from coastal Oregon - edge of the Mojave, with dry desert air and about 3000ft altitude.
They ran 50-69 together (I'm 65-69) and I took first 200m very easy so I could weigh up my fellow 65+ opponents. Caught them before halfway, and then began to chase down the young divisions. Finished fifth overall and 1st 65+ - I think I would have made second or third in each of the younger age groups, and I did get one of the younger division winners of the 5k road race.
After the very slow opening 200m, I settled into very even laps of 95-96, and found I had a lot left for the last lap where I ran 87 sec, accelerating all the way to the line, which my trusty Garmin said I hit at 78 per sec pace. Although I felt OK, HR was much higher than usual going up to 172, a number I haven't seen for years.
Initially, although very happy to have got the W, I was disappointed in the time (11:53) which was 20 seconds slower the the Hayward Classic in the Spring.
However, on some investigating I found that it was the second fastest winning time for the age group (Gary Patton has the record, but he's from another planet to me), and that on Tom 'Tinman' Schwartz altitude conversion table a 11:53 at 2809ft (exact altitude of the track) is worth 11:25 for an unadapted sea-level runner. That's eight seconds quicker than Eugene, and would be ninth on the rankings for outdoor 3000m 65+ this year.
Pleased with that, and I did think the session of 4x800m in 3:01 average with 200m/2:15 recovery did point to being fitter than Eugene, as did HR of only 151 (against max I've seen in recent years of 165) at the end of the 6:06 mile.
Having a week off now, before gradually picking up again. Going to try more hills after reading this
Going to also try and put in some strength training (currently virtually none) and cycling or eliptical instead of some of the short recovery runs.
The high HR at altitude apart, I generally feel I don't have the leg power to use my full aerobic capability - on the basis of a high of 165, and my current training Garmin thinks I should run 17:44 for 5k not my current 19:49. While 17:44 is not happening, I'm sure a lot of the gap between the two is down to not having the leg strength/power to sustain a higher percentage of my max HR - I only average 149 in the 19:49 5k.